Jake Neighbours of Airdrie scored his second and third goals of the 2022 Western Hockey League playoffs last night, including the eventual winner less than five minutes into the game, to lift the Edmonton Oil Kings to a 7 – 1 win over the Winnipeg ICE and into the league finals against the winner of the Kamloops-Seattle series.

It was a surprising 4 – 1 series win for the Oil Kings over a Winnipeg team that finished first overall in the WHL with 111 points, seven more than Edmonton. During their run to the finals, Edmonton has lost just one game in three series with sweeps over Lethbridge and Red Deer before dropping the second game of the Winnipeg series.

The Oil Kings left little doubt which team was the better one last night, putting the game away early with three goals in just :55 seconds before the game clock ticked past five minutes. Carter Souch opened the scoring with his first of two 4:05 into the first before Neighbours connected for both of his goals, eight seconds apart at 4:52 and 5:00 of the first. Kaiden Guhle made it 4 – 0 Edmonton just past the ten-minute mark leaving little doubt about who would be advancing to the finals.

Souch and Guhle each scored their second goals of the game and Jakub Demek collected his third of the playoffs before the second period ended. Winnipeg's Connor McClennon scored the ICE's only goal with less than three minutes to play to break Sebastian Cossa's shutout.

Neighbours was chosen the second star of the game for his performance.

The Oil Kings will have to wait until at least Sunday to find out who they'll meet in the WHL Final. Last night Kamloops took a three games to two lead over the Seattle Thunderbirds with a 4 – 3 overtime win at home. The Blazers will look to wrap up the series tomorrow night when the teams meet again in Seattle. Should the T-Birds win, a seventh game will go back in Kamloops on Tuesday night.

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